Students Give Convention Good Reviews

Harvard students who attended last week’s Democratic National Convention had a mostly positive assessment of the event.

The Convention, which took place in Denver’s Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High, gave the Democrats the opportunity to come together and make a strong case for Barack Obama as the general presidential election kicks into high gear.

Jarret A. Zafran '09, president of the Harvard College Democrats and a Crimson editorial writer, said he enjoyed the variety of panels and events, including a panel on poverty that featured Ben Affleck and Madeleine Albright.

But for Zafran, attending Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday night at Invesco Field was the most memorable.

"The crowd was just electric, and you could feel how much this meant to everyone in the audience," Zafran said. "I was sitting next to two African-American women, and when [Obama] finished, one of them turned to the other and said, 'I'm 57 years old. Did you ever think we'd see this?' They were both crying."

Former Harvard Dems secretary Jonathan Padilla '11 said that the Wednesday night speech from Sen. Joseph Biden's (D-Del.) held the most weight.

"I was listening with a small group of close friends," Padilla said, "and two phrases stood out for me: 'When you get knocked down, get up,' and 'God sends no cross you cannot bear.' It's been a rough year with my father's health, so hearing those stories about falling down, but having the courage to get back up, held the most meaning for me."

Overall, Padilla thought that Democrats stayed on message by emphasizing party unity and including party members from all walks of life.

However, Padilla said that he had some problems with the way that the convention was conducted.

"We could have done better on party transparency," Padilla said, "as there are still some issues about the party not being completely open on decisions."

"I would have liked to have seen President Carter talk, and I wish that there was more emphasis on issues, as the actual substance—the platform and speeches –were weak on details," Padilla added.

Zafran said he was pleased with the choice of Denver as a city, but noted that there were some drawbacks to the selection.

"Unfortunately, [Denver] is a bit spread out and doesn't have enough hotel rooms downtown to accommodate all of the participants," Zafran said, "so 'less important' state [delegations] like my home state of New Jersey were staying in a hotel pretty far away from the downtown."

But this small issue wasn't enough to diminish the importance of the convention for Zafran.

"On Wednesday night, I was sitting next to the Ambassadors from Iraq, Oman, and Luxembourg to the United States," Zafran said. "It was a pretty incredible reminder of how much this election means to the world."

—Staff writer Prateek Kumar can be reached at kumar@fas.harvard.edu.